Dramatica for Screenwriters

Dramatica for Screenwriters
by Armando Saldana

Dramatica for Screenwriters
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Book Summary Information

Author: Armando Saldana
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2005-07-13
ISBN: 0918973031
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Write Brothers, Inc.

Book Reviews of Dramatica for Screenwriters

Book Review: Thoroughly Confusing
Summary: 2 Stars

I purchased this book based on the other reviews claiming that it "demystifies" the Dramatica theory and software. Unfortunately, I found the opposite to be the case.

I've made numerous attempts to get my head around the principles of the Dramatica theory, with the intention of finally being able to put to use the rather pricey Dramatica Pro software I bought years ago. Both the software itself, and the book of theory explaining it ("Dramatica: A New Theory of Story") are so riddled with specialized (and somewhat proprietary) jargon that I've long counted myself among the number of users for whom the effort to grasp the principles involved outweighed the potential benefits. (And BTW, I'm no newcomer to the basic premises of story structure; I've got an MFA from a respectable film school, and have worked for many years as a film editor.)

I'd had high hopes for "Dramatica For Screenwriters", figuring it would serve as a practical layman's guide to understanding and using the software. Unfortunately (there's that word again), despite claims in the author's introduction to the contrary, a few pages in the jargon begins coming at the reader hot and heavy, and unlike in "Dramatica: A New Theory of Story", which I already found to be too opaque, here much of the jargon is not even explained in a cursory manner. Reader familiarity is assumed, which would seem to defeat the purpose of the book in the first place. So the reader is left with a bit of a Catch-22: if you need the book, you probably won't understand it, and if you can understand the book, you probably don't need it.

Summary of Dramatica for Screenwriters

Dramatica for Screenwriters by Armando Salda?a Mora is a must for any writer who wishes to get the most out of the Dramatica? Pro story development software. Written by a working screenwriter, this book gives real world, practical applications for using Dramatica to develop and write screenplays. Book topics include: What Dramatica offers the screenwriter, Dramatica in thirty seconds Characters: Beyond the archetypes, Character Relationships as subplots, Note and sketch story development, How to get a complete plot, Four Dramatica Acts, Three Classical Acts, Narrative flow & writing the screenplay and many more.
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